Chasing the rejected Luna

17: Good riddance to bad rubbish

Sophia

"Why…why…" I stopped to look at her with confusion. It was hard to believe her. Alexander was cruel but going as far as killing his best friend to frame me for it was not something I thought he could do.

"I know it's hard to take in. But I do hope you'll forgive him," Dianne's mother squeezed my hand and I looked away from her, unable to look her in the eye.

"But why?" I asked no one in particular and turned to face her back. Tears were brimming in her eyes and I couldn't understand. I tried to come up with different reasons but none made sense to me. I never hurt Alexander so why does he hate me so much?

I began to believe what Dianne told me about Alexander getting me back for a silly bet. It made me want to scream out to the universe for making my life so pathetically hard. I never offended anyone and tried to be in everyone's good books.

But all they ever did was make my life hell. Maybe I was never meant to be in this pack. Maybe the moon goddess made a mistake in placing me here. I never felt like I belonged and I was glad I would be leaving the pack.

That's what I told myself. But deep down, I knew I wanted to be acknowledged, to be felt, and to belong here. I wanted to feel what it's like to be loved by people around me.

I sucked in a shaky breath and ran a hand through my hair. Some knots gave me a burn on my scalp when I pulled harder. But the pain was nothing compared to knowing my mate had broken me over the years without my knowledge. Someone who I wanted to please and get back to.

Dianne's mother squeezed my hand again, bringing me to the present. I didn't know when she moved forward to me and held my hand.

"I don't know why he did it. But I knew he didn't make you intentionally go through so much pain. He was probably scared of what would happen if people got to hear about it. And being the omega, it was easy for him to pin it on you," she said while rubbing the back of my hand with her thumb. It didn't bring me any form of comfort that it intended to bring.

"How can you still defend him when he killed your stepson, Rudolph?" I asked her with surprise. She was a woman of great value. Someone I admired so much but I just couldn't understand how

she could be so calm about all of it.

"I was broken when I found out about it. But soon, I learned to let go of it. It was of no use."

"At least, you should have said something!" I yelled and turned away from her, my anger simmering at the edge.

"He would have come for me. I didn't want to leave you or Dianne behind. He was the Alpha's son and it would be his voice against mine. I wasn't so confident I would win the case against him. He is manipulative and sinister," she whispered behind me, her voice breaking at the end.

I felt guilty for shouting at her and took ten breaths to calm myself down. It worked but my anger for Alexander didn't subside.

"I understand that you did what you thought was best for everyone. I can't be mad at you because maybe I would have done the same if I were in your position," I said and hugged her tight, my chest constricting painfully from the hurt and betrayal I experienced within a day.

It was too much to bear for anyone. But this was me. Someone who had seen worse days. And I knew I would be fine. For the first time in a long while, I looked towards the future - what it holds.

"Thank you for your understanding. Now, go meet Ryven. He's a good man and I know he will take good care of you," she said and patted my back. I disentangled from her and walked away without looking back.

I feared that if I looked back, I might not be able to bring myself to leave the pack without her. She had been my anchor.

I walked over to Alpha Ryven's house - the place he was staying in the pack. But as soon as I got there, I met his Beta instead who told me Alpha Ryven had gone away

"I don't understand. I thought I belonged to him now?" I asked him and he smiled at me. He was a handsome young man in his thirties with blond hair that fell to his forehead, coffee-brown eyes, and a straight nose.

He was heavily built, unlike Alpha Ryven who was moderately built.

"Yes. You belong to him now. But you will be coming with me instead to the pack. An emergency came up and he had to leave early. I'd suggest you start packing up now as we would be leaving in the next hour," he said and I nodded my head at him and left.

I went over to the pack house to get my things with a heavy heart. I hoped I wouldn't come across Alexander but that was who I saw first when I walked into the house.

He stopped when he saw me and we locked eyes for a while. I wanted to scream at him and tell him all the nasty things he had told me over the years. But to what end? It was of no use. I would be gone from the pack. He did what he did and I hoped it returned to him a hundred times over.

No words were exchanged between us. He was silent but his eyes held a lot of words. Emotions swirled in them. But the most prominent was pain. I didn't know what he spoke about with his father, but for the first time, I saw a broken man in him.

I broke eye contact and walked away from him, my shoulder brushing against his arm when I passed by him on the door.

I heard him turn around and felt his eyes on me. I didn't tune around but walked straight to get my little things from my shabby room at the back of the pack house.

I finished packing up and looked around the room I had known most of my life. Here, I cried, laughed, and prayed. But all I ever saw was pain and suffering.

I went back to Alpha Ryven's Beta. He was waiting for me by the door of a car just outside of the guest house. I swallowed hard and entered when he entered the backseat.

We were driven out of the pack by a driver. I thought I would never feel pain and be strong. But as soon as we drove out of the pack, I broke down. That had been the pack I grew up in. Even if I can barely remember my parents, they were part of that pack.

The last memories I had were of that place. Even if they were mostly bad memories, they still counted as something. The car was filled with the noise of my cries. The Beta didn't say anything, pretending that I wasn't there and I was glad about that.

I cried for all the horrible things done to me. I cried for losing my mate, one who was supposed to protect me and give me peace. It was overwhelming and soon enough, I fell asleep in the car.

I was woken up by the horn blaring at something and I sat up. We were in the middle of the woods. Up ahead, was a huge gate. I could no longer feel the link to my pack as I had left their grounds. But instead, I felt so out of place in the car because I was in a new pack. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," The Beta beside me said with warm eyes and I nodded at him. He seemed to understand what I was thinking about. And I took the opportunity to ask him about the reason I was traded over with a piece of land.

I hesitated for a bit, biting my nails.

"Say it," he said from beside me and I turned to look at him, looking away from the towering gate. We gained entry into the pack after a guard recognized the Beta in the car.

I hesitated again until I saw him smile. He meant no harm to me and just wanted to help.

"Why did Alpha Ryven trade me over for a piece of land?" I asked him and he put his mouth in a thin line and looked away from me to the window.

"It's best you ask Ryven. He's in the best position to explain it to you."

"I know. But would you at least give me a hint? I should know what I am getting into. I don't know if I'll be a servant or something else," I tried to reason with him and he hesitated.

The car passed through a tiled road in the pack. The pack was much bigger than my former pack. It has lots of houses and looks like two small towns merged. The people were happy and going about their daily lives, giving no need for the car.

The pack was beautiful without doubt with many trees and flowers at the side of the road which provided some form of trade. It was also well-developed.

"You won't be a servant here. You'll be something else," the beta said and I looked away from the window and back at him. He wasn't looking at me but at the window as well.

I was confused about what he said as my brows drew together. "I don't understand. If I won't be a servant here, what will I be?"

I saw him smile from his side profile and muttered something under his breath. "Let's just say, you will be by Alpha Ryven's side for a very long time," he said to me and turned. And then the car stopped.

I wanted to ask him what he meant by that. But he was out of the car before I could say a word.